I take great pleasure in dwelling on words that carry the scents of the Word. I must confess that I sometimes can re~read one word for a long time, basking in the Love energy it conveys. I easily am amazed when it comes to the manifestations of Love. “…Forget the rigid structures of academia and intellectual pride! RealKnowledge does not alienate one from his/her light!” This still resounds in my mind…

Fifteen years ago, one September morning, I abruptly broke away from formal education to revel in Stillness; the impulse to be in Silence finally overcame me! Lo, there were now impetuous teachers in the humility that came with “not belonging” and not abiding by established standards and their false sense of security/identity. I then learned to repose, to study specific subjects, to live in patience; since it was finally alright to honor my nature, thus to be quiet, I learned to listen to the movements of Love… There had been some Majesty there behind each event; the sorrowful with the joyful, now gigantic loops of Sound and Beauty… I just fell from existence as I knew it …

In hindsight, secular irrelevant curriculum stifled and bombarded me with so much noise and restlessness; pure reflection of an unnatural spiritually oppressive world system, obstinate in its “dismissal” of the all-pervading Spirit; a fierce system always on some quest to repress, to usurp, to dissimulate the truth, to disturb the natural Order of things… but only The Divine reigns supreme, indeed! La ilaha illa Allah.

Solely in Silence and Love does the Truth interweave with the heart, how threatening the sublime treasures it threads in and around it! As it was intended by universal mathematics, Love unfurls constantly, it runs through our fingertips and ends up as efflorescent imprints inside the minds of other lovers who in turn whisper: “let us just whirl like surrendered pearls and make this Intimacy a cosmic one!”

You see why academia seems so futile?

copyright 2007 Aida Toure.

“Had I been to school, I would have been an educated fool.”

~Bob Marley

“Read in the name of your Lord who created, created man from a clot. Read, for your Lord is most Generous, Who teaches by means of the pen, teaches man what he does not know.“

7 responses to “Academia Folly”

This post really resonates with me. For a while I considered pursuing a career in academic philosophy, but like you I decided against it for spiritual reasons. There is indeed something oppressive about intellectual systems, perhaps because they try to fix in place the unending Dance of the Divine. In the end, I find it better to join this dance, and as you point out, in the surrender of Silence we find exactly what we’re looking for.

Academia isn’t futile, though it can definitely feel that way much of the time.

My take on it is this:

Receiving is your duty, giving your reward.

The “system” may be spiritually “oppressive” — and it is, quite often — but isn’t it strange that the best and most lasting steps forward in human history occur in the darkest times, spiritually speaking? Just a thought!

Welcome Joseph, thanks for your thought. Academia can be limiting to the human soul since it tends to promote regimentation and absorption of materialistic, false values that repress our natural thought process and our innate high Aspiration. I think the chaos and destructive system of our world exposes the failures of the education system since many of those who are in “power” and who scheme to interfere with mankind’s prosperity are the most academically “trained” ones. We would have more harmony, less exploitation and oppression of human souls if academia were reflecting wholeness, truth in education instead of the hidden agendas of the lowly ego, its fragmentation and the mind control it imposes which fortify the divisive system it represents… it’s great that not all academics serve it though.